(CANTON TOWNSHIP, Mich.) — An elderly man with dementia was rescued by officials after his foot got stuck in a window and he ended up dangling from the second-story of his home in Michigan, the Canton Township Police Department told ABC News.
The incident, which occurred on April 12 at approximately 2:49 a.m., was captured on police body-worn camera footage, showing officers on the ground building a human pyramid to attempt to free the dangling man while others inside the home supported him with cables.
In the footage reviewed by ABC News, the man can be heard screaming, “I can’t hold this much longer, I really can’t.”
The man’s wife, Lynnette Barnett, told ABC Detroit affiliate WXYZ that her husband, who is in the late stages of dementia, was trying to get out of the room, was unsure how, so he decided to leave through the window.
“He’s not steady on his feet, the window he chose to come out of is the only window in the house that you need to prop open, because if you don’t prop it open, it will fall shut,” Barnett told WXYZ.
If the window had not shut on the man’s foot, Barnett said her husband “would have been dead.”
Officials, along with the help of “swift-acting neighbors” who provided a ladder, were successfully able to return the man to safety, intervening in a way that “saved this man’s life and prevented a tragedy,” Canton Police Chief Chad Baugh said in a statement to ABC News.
“This incident reflects the heart of public service, and we remain committed to working with every available resource to provide wraparound support for those facing cognitive challenges,” Baugh said.
Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.